-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The darling of the Russian crowd duly delivered Tuesday to regain her status as the leading women 's pole vaulter in the world .

Yelena Isinbayeva shrugged off five years of disappointments in global competition to return to the top of the podium , roared on by partisan home support in the Luzhniki Stadium .

Not even Usain Bolt and his 100m heroics could capture the imagination as surely as Isinbayeva , the four-day old championships , marked by sparse attendances , finally springing fully to life .

The noise reached a fever pitch when the 31-year-old successfully cleared 4.89 m while America 's 2012 Olympic champion Jennifer Suhr and Cuban Yarisley Silva both failed at that height . Suhr claimed the silver at 4.82 m on count back .

But all eyes were left on Isinbayeva , who made three unsuccessful attempts to break her own world record of 5.06 m . It was her third world championship title in the discipline .

She had dominated the event with Olympic golds in Athens 2004 and the 2008 Games in Beijing , setting 28 world records indoor and outdoor .

Her golden run came to abrupt end at the 2009 World Championships and at Daegu two years ago she finished a lowly sixth .

Bronze behind Suhr in the London Games last year was also a disappointment , but she has now gained redemption on home soil .

`` It was the best ever support , '' said Isinbayeva , who will now to take a break from the sport to have a baby , but is hoping to return for the 2016 Olympics in Rio .

`` I felt like I was at home , that everyone was behind me . I absorbed that and it resulted in a gold , '' she added .

The crowd were also treated to an array of competitive finals and a big shock as Grenada 's Olympic champion Kirani James slumped to 400m defeat to LaShawn Merritt of the United States .

James could not match the power of Merritt and faded to seventh in the home straight as the 2008 Olympic champion crossed the line in a season 's best 43.74 seconds .

Teammate Tony McQuay ran a fine 44.40 seconds for silver with Luquelin Santos of the Dominican Republic in third .

`` It just did n't work out for me today , '' admitted the 20-year-old James , who was defending his title won in Daegu two years ago .

Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha was missing from the event he has made his own , breaking his own world record on the way to gold in London last year .

In his absence , Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia charged through to claim his country 's first global crown at the two-lap event .

He eased past American Nicky Symmonds to win in one minute 43.31 seconds with Ayanleh Souleiman claiming bronze for Djibouti .

Ukraine 's Ganna Melnichenko won the women 's heptathlon after holding off a determined challenge from Canada 's Brianne Theisen Eaton , who is the wife of newly-crowned world decathlon champion Ashton Eaton of the United States .

She needed to beat Melnichenko by a healthy margin in the closing 800m event , but could not pull ahead by the 4.69 seconds required and had to settle for silver .

Isinbayeva 's gold was the second of the day for the hosts after Olympic champion Elena Lashmanova crossed the line first in the women 's 20km walk .

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Yelena Isinbayeva wins women 's pole vault at world championships

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First global success for Russian since 2008 Olympics

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LaShawn Merritt takes men 's 400m gold with storming run

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Aman breaks Ethiopian gold drought with 800m win